HomeHub now direct into master socket. Let’s see how it goes and how it survives shoes being flung at it as kids come home from school (it’s in the porch on the floor!).

Thanks for all the help. I’ll keep you posted.

Never presume anything with insurance 🙂

It’s worth checking to see if you can upgrade your current policy to include winter sports cover. It may end up being a similar cost to taking out a separate policy.

I had an engineer out several months back when I had stability issues. They couldn’t find anything wrong, swapped the hub out and things settled down again. There’s something fishy going on somewhere but between BT, me and STW we’ve not found out where yet 🙂

On to BT now. My case is being escalated to the “Fault Specialist Team”. I feel honoured.

No Openreach modem. I had one of those when I had a HomeHub 3 but they’re not needed with the newer HomeHubs like the 5 I have.

My setup is sort of like the link, but I have an additional extension – installed by BT – from the master socket to the next room. The HomeHub is plugged into that socket via an RJ11 cable.

So you have the phone plugged into the master socket?

Yes. That’s the black cable in the second image I posted.

where is your Openreach white splitter box plugged in about?

What’s that? If you mean the extension, it’s in the next room approx 4 or 5m of cabling away. If you mean the Openreach modem, I don’t have one since moving to a HomeHub 5. Or do you mean something else?

Is it possible to move Homehub and splitter to the Master socket temporarily?

Once I know what a splitter is I will tell you 🙂

The images above are the master socket i.e. where the phone line comes into the house, but this is not where the HomeHub is plugged in. BT – when they installed Infinity 2 – fitted an extension off this master socket into which the HomeHub is plugged. This is the extension socket:

BT fitted extension by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

bottom faceplate punchdown

a what now??

…you’re running VDSL from a voice-only socket which has already had the DSL signal filtered out of the connection and wondering why it’s a bit flaky?

This means nothing to me. All I know is that I have had BT Infinity 2 for 18 months or possibly more and – every few months – I go through a torrid time of flaky performance. I’ve not installed these sockets or modified the faceplates; BT did.

Sorry if I sound dumb. I’ve not been tinkering. I just want the reliable and fast Infinity 2 broadband I’ve had many times before.

Oh joy. Just had my first disconnection since refixing the master socket. I didn’t really have high hopes that screwing it back securely to the wall would magically fix it to be honest.

FWIW BT have tested the line recently and there are no faults. It looks like I do need to eliminate internal wiring as the issue, but with 3 young kids in the house I’m not happy about plugging the HomeHub into the master socket by the front door. Not sure I have a choice 😕

Thanks Cougar.

does it improve?

As I said above, it’s not binary (pun intended) so trying something to see if it improves or not doesn’t really yield instant results. This morning, for example, I did a BT Wholesale speed test on an ethernet connection direct to the HomeHub. First result was 97Mbps(!) then when I tried straight after it had dropped to 1.5Mbps. I assume the line is still trying to stabilise following the installation of the new hub.

Reckon I’d be kicking this back to BT

I agree. Maybe things will settle down over the next few days but if not I will be back onto BT. It’s not the first or even second time I’ve had periods of instability and poor performance.

Connection loss.

I have had occasional wi-fi dropouts but it’s rare, whereas the connection loss has been regular. Even BT support admitted I was having unacceptable stability, but their solution was to send me a new HomeHub. I’ve had that new hub since the weekend and have still had connection loss. I’m hopeful that maybe it is related to a wiring issue (loose Master Socket) and now I’ve sorted that the problems will go away. I’m not optimistic 😀

[EDIT] – and as a secondary issue the speed has dropped to as low as 1.41Mbps download when I should be getting 65 or so, but I was told that speed may take a few days to establish consistency. Today it’s been floating around the teens.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. A few things for me to try.

Finding a “cure” to this isn’t that easy because the symptoms don’t manifest themselves with any pattern. For instance since 19th February I’ve had several occasions where the internet connection has been lost for a few minutes then come back – on most occasions – with no intervention from me. It’s been random as far as I can see though. Prior to that I’d not noticed any drop pages since October. I could, for example, plug the HomeHub into the master socket and find it is OK for a few days, but it wouldn’t be conclusive. Granted if I plug it into the master socket and it IS still flaky I suppose that eliminates internal wiring and is at that point worth an engineer.

It’s a big pain to be frank 🙁

You need a microfilter

I’ve not needed one – or so I was advised when it was installed – since moving to BT Infinity 2.

BT Openreach master socket by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

Does your DSL speed change if you plug directly into the test socket

Just had a new HomeHub 5 so assume I should let that “settle down” for a few days before trying stuff like that.

The speed isn’t the main issue. The main issue has been recurrent drop outs leaving me with no internet. It usually comes back on a minute later, but it can be hugely disruptive when working from home.

Thanks

thanks all. Phone rings OK so will leave it all as is. I’m hoping that – whilst it feels unlikely – the unstable internet is a result of a loose master socket. Fingers crossed

I’ve just checked and 2 = blue, 3 = orange, 5 = white

How would I know if it’s the bell wire?

It’s a really odd feeling being totally unable to master a basic skill.

OMG, if a good manual is a basic skill, I’m a lot worse at mountain biking that I thought 😆

I can manage a little manual through puddles and the like, but I’m a long way off from cruising down the street on my back wheel waving at passers by. I definitely push down to pop back up again.

Do you ever wander about on the floors and speak to people ? Do you attend low-level team meetings from time to time, just to say hello and ask them what they are doing ? None of these things take that much out of your day. Some really good leaders I have worked with did that kind of thing.

^This

No one on this thread truly knows what your boss means by “more visible” but having had an MD a couple of years ago who rarely if ever came in the office, to our current one who is frequently in the office engaging with ALL the staff, it makes a huge and positive difference to the team and the business if leaders are “more visible”.

I’ve always wondered why folks take a 3 litre hydration pack to Bike Park Wales

As someone who has taken a 3 litre hydration pack to Bike Park Wales, for me it’s because even going downhill I get thirsty and I’d rather have plenty of drink on me than keep going back to the car/cafe. Also my pack has a built in back protector and if you’ve seen me ride you’ll know I need all the protection I can get 😆

I could manage without, but the inconvenience of wearing a sack is outweighed by the convenience of having it.

Civic is larger than a Fiesta (hatchback vs supermini), but I would think a Fiesta is smaller than a Jazz. Could be wrong.

“We’re going to need a bigger boat”

If you like the practicality of the Jazz but want something a bit more interesting to drive, how about a Civic? They have the same incredible flip up and fold flat seats. Hugely practical for a relatively small car and considerably more so than a Fiesta.

stilltortoise – given you ride similar stuff to me, I can categorically say my bottle which doesn’t even sit flush in the cage has never once dropped out, nor attempted too, its as stable as they come and cant ever see it coming out

It could simply be that now we all have big tyres and full suspension, bottles simply don’t fall out as much. In the days of fully rigid boneshaking MTBs it wasn’t unusual at all. That said, I was out with someone of this parish a few weeks ago and their “tools in a bottle” fell out. Fortunately we found it when we retraced out steps.

Bottles and bottle cages haven’t evolved that much in the 25 years I’ve been mountain biking. The big problem I had in the old days was bottles bouncing out of cages and I’ve seen people still have that problem today. I loved the advent of the hydration pack to solve this problem.

For those who use bottles and bottle cages, how do you get round this? Are you just super smooth riders or have you simply never had the disembarking bottle problem?

i always use a saddle bag on my road bike

I used to as well. It meant the necessary tools/spares were always there ready to ride. Then one day – when I needed to get into my saddle bag – it was seized shut and I had to cut it open. I’ve since reverted to jersey pockets. In the old days I used to use a saddle bag for mountain biking which was great for tools and spares, but soon found I was running out of space for food and spare clothes.

Roadies manage to carry everything they need without a backpack.

That’s because the rules say we have to do that 🙂

Saddle and frame bags will come back into fashion and Camelbaks and the like will go out of fashion. Enduro has already seen bottle cages and bottles fashionable again. When the manufacturers start seeing these trends develop we’ll see all manner of innovative and interesting solutions to carrying stuff without needed a rucksack.

I love riding without a rucksack, but the reality is that it’s much easier for me to sling a pre-packed ‘sack on my back that it is to tuck all my tools, spares, food, clothing etc onto me or the bike, especially considering I have more than one MTB.

I’ll get in here early. I don’t care what anyone else says, I’ve come home from bike rides with my head in one piece because I wore a helmet. I will stubbornly stick my fingers in my ears and sing loudly if anyone tries to suggest the helmet did not have a positive impact (see what I did there) on limiting the seriousness of my injuries.

Current turntables are 2 x Vestax PDT-5000 (built like a brick outhouse but I always regret not getting SL1210s) and a Project 1.1. This is what I covet though

The Swift sounds ace! I’d love to own one of those one day, but they’re just too small for our current needs.

I had a limited edition ‘DJ only’ triple gatefold copy of Leftfield’s ‘Leftism’

Still have mine. I’ll put it on next 😉

Beastie Boys’ ‘Check Your Head’

…and then I’ll put this on 😀

I’ve been very music enjoying my Rising High “Secret Life of Trance” volumes 1 and 2 recently.

Can someone who is marking the civil liberties argument explain to me why unlocking an iphone is different to having a search warrant and turning your house upside down including breaking open any safe found on the property ?

Smart phones are communication devices; email, MMS, SMS, IM and all manner of other traces of past communications are on there. A house is just a box containing stuff.

For **** sake, we now have to rely on Apple, Google, etc etc to protect aspects of our civil liberties. That’s all kinds of **** up.

Well put

No one has argued they should have “access to all data everywhere” just that it might be useful to allow them to get the info on the “baddies”

Therein lies the problem and the fact you’ve felt it necessary to use speech marks around baddies is telling. Who decides who the baddies are? Am I a baddie if I live under an oppressive regime and dare to speak out against the government via an iMessage to my friend on my iPhone?

It’s very easy to sit in front of our computers in the democratised, free-speaking western world and argue in favour of governments being able to access all data everywhere. Meanwhile in other countries people are executed for saying something the regime doesn’t like. I think someone said it up there ^ somewhere, the precedent set here will be a global one so we need to think of the global repercussions.

Wouldn’t that mean being tied to Stoneacre to fix your car?

yes

Tell me more

As I understand (based on previous threads on here) SRAM do a Powerlink and a Powerlock. One is designed to be easily taken off and then refused and the other – as the name suggests – isn’t. I was advised that when SRAM went 10 speed they stopped using Powerlinks and went to Powerlocks. This explains why I used to have no problem with taking SRAM chains off with bare hands yet now I have to resort to tools.

Much as I love the Dales – it’s somewhere I’d quite happily live and retire – a lot of it is quite remote compared to the Peak District for example. If going to the city from time to time is important to you, maybe the Peak would be better.

Bakewell is a lovely town slap bang in the middle of the Peak District (in fact the only town in the Peak District) and is within easy doorstep reach of good biking and a fairly shortish drive to Sheffield, Manchester and Derby. Chesterfield is within 15 minutes drive for a big cinema. The one thing against it is the lack of a railway station and it can be busy with tourists.

This is a timely thread. I went (2nd hand) car shopping last weekend and actually quite enjoyed it. We visited 3 different show rooms and in all of them the salesman was friendly, not at all pushy and genuinely pleasant to deal with. We didn’t have a specific car in mind so they could have gone down the route of pushing some old stock on us, but didn’t. Impressed.

Then I let my guard down 🙁

I saw a car in the third and last showroom and it winked at me and I smiled back. The salesman saw this and must have known immediately that he had me hook, line and sinker. “Test drive? Of course, sir. Take it overnight and bring it back tomorrow.” I’m ashamed and appalled at my (lack of) negotiation skills the next day. I wanted the car. He knew I wanted the car. It was only a matter of time… 😆

I practised my “surprisingly courteous” act when I had it on an extended test drive at the weekend. I let people out at junctions and used indicators. It will pass 🙂

I know the feeling. I put a deposit down on a black 1 Series the other day, then noticed 3 parked in the office car park…the same colour!